obese betta

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minoubinette

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 17, 2004
Messages
20
Location
Gatineau Qc
ok, this is not normal, my betta which I've had for a year and a half is obese, or should I say constipated. He doesn't crap a lot and his belly is huge. I don't know what to do anymore. I change his water every week (busy schedual) and i'd like to know if anyones knows what it is or waht can i do.

thanx

ps he got sick about 2 months ago, parasites made little white bubble on his body, and I gave him some medications... could it be that? I'm thinking it didn't help too much for his situations.
 
Hi minoubinette and welcome to Aquarium Advice! :multi:

Look at your betta from above -- do his scales look like they are sticking out like a pinecone? This is called dropsy. If he looks like this, give him some antibiotics, like Kanacyn, Maracyn, or Jungle Fungus Eliminator. Unfortunately, I have not had any luck with my bettas if they get to this stage.

Hopefully your betta is just constipated. Some signs of this are a swollen belly right around the pelvic fins (the long skinny ones) and a string of poop hanging from him. To help the constipation, feed a pea. This will hopefully clear any blockage. I like to use frozen peas. They don't get mushy like canned peas. Fill a glass measuring cup about half full of water, and microwave a few peas, for 4 minutes on high. Let cool, and peel and discard the skin of the pea. Cut the pea into pieces the same size as the betta's normal food -- he should accept it that way. I just squeeze the pea between my fingernails to get little pieces. Don't feed any of his normal food for a few days. This won't hurt him and it will give the blockage a chance to go away. You should try to give your betta a pea like this once a week, to keep his digestive system healthy. I feed my bettas pellets and bloodworms Monday through Friday. On Saturday they get peas, and on Sunday I don't feed them at all. Skipping a day of feeding once a week is good for their digestive sytem too.

The little parasites were probably ich. Read the ich article on this site: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32
Have you seen any more spots? Try the heat method if you see more spots. Sometimes medicines don't clear ich up completely. The ich parasite is only vulnerable to meds in the free-swimming stage. Otherwise, they are protected in the cyst. If there are still some cysts in the gravel, the spots could appear again on the betta. Watch and try the heat treatment if they come back.

What size tank is your betta in? My bettas are in 5.5 gallon tanks, and I do a water change once a week. If your betta is in a bowl, you should do changes twice a week. (also, the heat treatment for ich is out if the betta is in a bowl.) In my experience, bettas in a bowl get stressed easily, which leads to conditions like ich. Do you have test kits, to test the water parameters?
 
I had a betta with a similar problem that lived for 6-8 months like that before his belly got even larger and he finally died. When he first showed signs of swelling, I thought dropsy or constipation. I took him out of the tank, put him in a bowl with a heating pad surrounding it---monitoring temperature all the while---waiting for him to die.

He didn't.

He was acting normal, eating, pooping, and swimming, so back in the tank he went. He never really looked sick, other than the swollen abdomen. He always ate fine and swam fine up until the end.

I tried peas, but he never took to them at all. He also never showed the tell-tale pine cone look until right before he died. Weird...
 
hi and thanx for the reply

ok, no he's never had dropsy. None of my bettas have. He just has a REALLY blowded look on him, eats normally, poops a little and swins sometimes but not a lot cuz the belly looks in the way and heavy. He's in a bowl, he's always been. That's what I don't get. I was told afterwards that the medication I was giving him COULD make him constipated. tsss! Anyway, it's called Quick Cure it contains Formalin and malachite green.thanx again
 
Yup...that's how mine looked, although the swelling wasn't quite as pronounced. I bet he doesn't have that pine cone look does he? If he's eating and pooping normally, I don't know what else to tell you.
 
sorry i dont really have any advice for you but i just thought id come in and say hi... pretty cool i live in Gatineau too... lol never thought id see someone on here from gatineau ...lol :p
 
hey prettyvacant! ya it is pretty cool to see someone else from gatineau too :)
And as for the pinecone, no he doesn't have that... i just dont know anymore, i feel so bad for him, poor thing :(
 
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Take comfort in knowing you did what you could for him and he was in a loving environment.
 
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